Topic: cellphones

Tech startups rarely get a second chance if they fail, since they can't usually draw on the help of either a huge following or a pile of cash. However, the recently defunct Frontback is getting that rare reprieve. The selfie-oriented social service has reached a deal with an as yet unnamed "part...

Samsung isn't waiting around for the verdict of a Chinese lawsuit over bloatware to take action. The company will offer patches in August that let local Android phone owners delete unwanted pre-installed apps on both the Galaxy Note 3, the example cited in the suit, as well as more recent phones l...

Earlier this week, mobile software startup Nextbit revealed that it's about to launch its first smartphone. The move comes as no surprise -- it'd be silly for a company to hire Scott Croyle, HTC's former head of design, just to work on some cool continuity software on Android, right? We caught up...

For developers, allowing the public to evaluate apps before general release is paramount -- it helps weed out the bugs that could derail an otherwise successful launch. Both Apple and Google offer the capability, but TestFlight features have only been baked into iOS for the better part of a year a...

QR codes look like they're really starting to catch on, and Vodafone's not one to turn down a reserved seat on the bandwagon. As part of a new trial, the UK carrier has teamed up with mobile payments renegade PowaTag so pay-as-you-go customers can top up their balances with just a quick scan of a...

When Microsoft bought Nokia, it inherited a pretty large feature phone business. But that business has shrunk a lot since the purchase, according to Strategy Analytics, and Microsoft hasn't set the smartphone world on fire either. As a result, Huawei just displaced it as the world's third largest...

While advertising still forms the bulk of Google's revenue, the company continuously experiments with different ways of serving ads to ensure people keep spending. Even after it realized that full-screen "interstitial" placements were turning smartphone users away, the search giant still believes...

AT&amp;T refuses to pay the FCC the $100 million fine it got slapped with, claiming that it didn't keep data throttling a secret from its subscribers at all. Ma Bell was given with such a hefty penalty, because the agency determined that it slowed down subscribers' "unlimited" internet connections...

Samsung's earlier prediction for the second quarter of 2015 was spot on: the company has failed to hit its goals when it comes to the sales of its flagship devices. Its operating profits fell four percent to 6.9 trillion won ($5.9 billion), and the mobile division's, in particular, slid to 2.76 tr...

You normally have to spring for higher-end cars to get semi-autonomous features that could save your hide, but Volkswagen is aiming to make them relatively commonplace. The automaker has started shipping its 2016 model line, and most of it will at least make crash avoidance features an option, if...

If you've ever wondered why Uber will show you a horde of available cars but still quote you an oddly long wait time for a ride, you now have an explanation: some of those cars don't exist. Motherboard has learned through a study that the app's map activity doesn't correlate that well with realit...

Android has more than one video-related security hole on its hands at the moment. Trend Micro has found a flaw that uses a malformed Matroska (MKV) video in apps or websites to crash Android's "mediaserver" service, effectively turning the target device into a paperweight. It'll not only render yo...